Else Intuition OS Looks Pretty Sweet on First Phone Expected Q2 Next Year [Cellphones]

This video is the best-look yet at the slick OpenGL-accelerated OS from Else (formerly Emblaze) and Access (who developed a next-gen Palm OS before Palm ditched it for their own). The big news: The First Else phone arrives next-year.
Confusingly, the name of Else's first phone is actually 'First Else'. As we mentioned in October, the phone has a 3.5-inch (480 x 854-pixel) touchscreen display, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, and 5-megapixel camera (capable of 480p video at 30fps). It's also very likely to have a TI OMAP 3430 processor, a 1450mAh battery, up to 32GB internal memory, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Apparently, it may only support HSDPA 3G and EDGE (no Verizon).
As for the Linux-based OS, it uses a one-thumb wheel that avoids digging through menus, has GPS aware reminders, can record voice calls/messages and store them along with when the call was made, and straight-up looks sci-fi.

It seems that Linux-based mobile operating systems like Android and webOS will soon have a new competitor.

ELSE INTUITION™ is a complete mobile platform developed by ACCESS and Emblaze Mobile. Thanks to the combination of ACCESS Linux Platform v3.0 and an advanced user interface engine, jointly developed by Emblaze Mobile and ACCESS, ELSE INTUITION™ delivers a highly compelling and differentiated user experience, coupled with state-of-the-art hardware, accelerated 2D/3D graphics and elegant transition effects. ELSE INTUITION™ takes advantage of ACCESS Linux Platform v3.0 to provide advanced flexibility and configurability, enabling users to run multiple applications simultaneously, switching between them with ease. All data and content, including contacts, appointments, videos and photos can be rendered anywhere, not just within a single dedicated application, giving users faster, easier and more consistent access to their information

 [Gizmodo via First Else via Pocket-Lint and SlashGear]

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100-Core Tilera TILE-Gx Processors Planned For 2011 [CPUs]

While Intel and AMD look to make a complete jump to 8-cores, Tilera (an MIT start-up) says its upcoming 100-core chip has 'at least four times the compute performance of an Intel Nehalem-Ex, while burning a third of the power.'
The 40-nanometer TILE-Gx will reportedly draw about 55W of power at full load, and though it's expected to cost between $400 and $1000 (depending on volume), it's more intended for use on Linux-based enterprise Web servers.
According to Wired, the chip isn't really geared for regular operating systems such as Windows 7—for that, you'll have to wait for Intel's 80-core processor which was demonstrated last year, and is expected in about 5 years.
[Gizmodo via Tilera via Wired]

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Else Intuition: The Surprisingly Not-Sad Fate of Palm OS [Cellphones]

In 2006, Access bought the rights to Palm OS, and licensed the code to Palm. Access spent plenty of time and money developing a next-gen OS, which Palm totally ignored for their own. Things looked grim! Until this thing.
The Else Intuition, aside from being one of the first phones to use Access' Linux Platform v3.0 OS, is a 3.47-inch 480x854 slab of handset, with an OMAP 3430 processor, 16GB of internal memory, a 5MP camera, A-GPS, and 3.5mm headphone jack. It's capable hardware to start with, and the Palmy (an honestly, kind of sleepy) v3.0 OS has been slapped with a completely new OpenGL-accelerated interface, codeveloped by Access and Emblaze, who had promised an 'ultimate holistic device,' whatever that means, late last year.
It's a lot to process, and there's not a ton of info to run with here: There's no hands-on to indicate if this left-field software is any good, and the companies won't get any more specific than '[worldwide] operator evaluations are currently underway' as far as potential release dates go. That said, this looks like decent hardware, albeit seriously bricklike, and newness counts for a lot in mobile software. (Pre, anyone?) Maybe this whole Access fiasco wasn't so crazy after all?
[Gizmodo via Access via Impress]

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Notion Ink Adam Tablet Caught On Video, Specs Finalized [Notion Ink]

We saw impressive renders of Notion Ink's Adam last week, along with some speculation, but today we're getting what's probably the best look yet at this ambitious play into the tablet space.
The following specs, to be unveiled officially at MWC, are listed as 'final' by the folks at Notion Ink. Take some of it with a grain of salt, as they are grossly incorrect about items like accelerometer and touchscreen (chart provided by Notion Ink):


The Technoholik video, filmed this weekend before the big reveal at MWC, follows here:

What you see in the video is essentially the final build. The camera position could move, and there was a screen cover removed because it was loose during the demo, but in the end this is the 1080p tablet Notion Ink will put up against the iPad (and the multitude of other tablets that arrive this year and beyond). Looks pretty sharp, especially in sunlight, although the trackpad location will definitely take some getting used to.

[Gizmodo via ADAM on Flickr, Technoholik]

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Strings? Where We're Going We Don't Need Strings [Guitars]

Strings? Nope. Frets? Not really. The Misa Digital Guitar, an open source, Linux-powered MIDI controller, brings shredding to the 21st century by dumping traditional guitar strings for buttons and a futuristic touch screen.
Before you wooden-guitar purists get all bent out of shape, the Misa's creator wants to make this perfectly clear: the digital guitar is intended to complement the traditional guitar, not replace it.
Intended as a tool for making electronic music, the Misa is played by pressing the 144 note buttons with the left hand and tapping a touch screen control pad with the right. As a MIDI controller, the Misa can play any instrument pack you happen to have on your computer.
The Misa's creator, Michael, explains:

In electronic music, the timbre (or colour) of the sound can be morphed in an infinite number of ways. For a guitar to accommodate this, the right hand needs more control than just plucking strings. You need to be able to control elements of the sound, such as sustain, pitch, filter cutoffs, contour or any other synthesizer parameter, in a way that has no physical constraints.

To take your solos back to the future, check out the Misa Digital homepage.
[Gizmodo via Misa Digital via Engadget]

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